Check out Our Favorite New Books on Technology

Four books Choice reviewers are loving

Posted on March 18, 2026 in Blog Posts

Timely reviews of new books are Choice’s bread and butter. We publish hundreds every month in Choice Reviews to help collections librarians make smart purchasing decisions, and we also showcase the books that win the Outstanding Academic Title awards at the end of every year. Awards season is a long way off, but we thought we’d highlight some of the technology books our reviewers have loved so far this year.

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Observed correction : how we can all respond to misinformation on social media

Bode, Leticia and Emily K. Vraga Oxford, 2025

Observed Correction explores an approach to mitigating misinformation on social media by empowering users themselves. Bode (Georgetown Univ.) and Vraga (Univ. of Minnesota) argue that when users observe direct, public corrections of misinformation, their understanding and accuracy improve. Essentially, the authors suggest harnessing the “social” aspect of social media to combat the misinformation problem it partly created. Because users become part of the solution, this approach is potentially more effective and scalable than other methods. While the authors support their argument with studies, surveys, and interviews, Observed Correction maintains a conversational tone. They provide practical, relatable suggestions and observations, concluding each chapter with an effective summary. Importantly, observed corrections aren’t presented as a stand-alone solution, but instead as an added layer of protection to use in combination with other methods. Observed Correction is excellent at empowering all users to combat online misinformation. While numerous resources discuss misinformation’s dangers and potential solutions, Bode and Vraga offer a uniquely relatable and personal method that is communicated in an approachable manner. The hope is that empowerment brings change, and change brings a future society better able to manage and mitigate misinformation. Highly recommended. – T. Manolovitz, Sam Houston State University

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Interface frictions : how digital debility reshapes our bodies

Alexander, Neta. Duke, 2025

The false promise of the internet has yet to be fully exposed, because there is simply too much profit tied up with tech. However, a searing, deeply personal book like Interface Frictions chips away at the veneer of equity, free choice, and intimate personalization that for too long has been the bait-and-switch tactic of the rapacious platforms that have eluded regulatory scrutiny in both the United States and Europe. Based on a solid grasp of the underlying interface designs as well as the current literature of disability studies, this valuable book provokes readers to think through the many ways that technology, such as remote work through Zoom and other programs, exacerbates the difficulties faced by 20 percent of the population (the most conservative calculation of the demographic) rather than enabling accessibility. Just as tech has reduced consumers of news and entertainment to “standardized” users essentially imprisoned by algorithms, it has undermined the once-ascendant culture of disability. To add insult to injury, tech devices are “breaking” users’ bodies and minds by degrees, argues Neta Alexander (film and media studies, Yale Univ.) in this brave and well-argued manifesto. Essential. – C. A. Riley II, Clarkson University

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Publishing beyond the market : open access, care, and the commons

Moore, Samuel A. Michigan, 2025

Moore (Univ. of Cambridge, England) has been involved with open access since 2009 at the Public Library of Science and has watched the growing exploitation of this innovative form of publishing. The big business of extractive models has come to dominate, subverting the ideals of making bibliodiverse research openly available to all. Exploration in search of a sustainable, resilient business model continues, from the “regressive output-focused visions of Plan S” and policies/mandates to what Moore calls “radical experiments in scholar-led publishing” (chapter 3). A blend of history, theory, and publisher interviews provides for a trenchant argument for a commons-based perspective, which strives for local, community-produced knowledge creation and research communication rather than the “indiscriminate and homogenizing” global approach. A decentralized, noncommercial ecosystem of publishing in journals and repositories, as modeled in many Latin American countries, offers an exciting alternative with greater fairness to readers and authors alike. This concise volume fashions a coherent narrative of how community governance could be leveraged to counter commercialization, creating a publishing framework that allows communities to better govern the technologies they use. Highly recommended. – S. E. Wiegand, Saint Mary’s College

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The secret life of copyright : intellectual property and inequality in the age of AI

Tehranian, John. Cambridge, 2025

Prominent intellectual property (IP) scholar and practicing attorney Tehranian (Southwestern Law School) presents the world of IP rights through the unique lens of social justice. Having represented numerous marginalized groups in high-profile arts and entertainment cases, Tehranian posits that US copyright law enables a two-tiered system of protection. This system not only perpetuates socioeconomic inequality but also suppresses criticism and dissent, ultimately stifling progress in the creative arts. The book condemns current copyright law as faultily protecting authorship-as-fixation (celebrity sex tapes), perpetuating unfair qualifications for authorship (uncredited female cocreator of the Broadway hit Rent), enabling “control of the narrative” by powerful corporations (Alan Cranston’s translated exposé of Hitler’s Mein Kampf squelched by Houghton-Mifflin), and weakening the First Amendment (right-wing radio’s Michael Savage silencing of criticism by the Council on American-Islamic Relations). Those positioned at the margins of society due to race, gender, religion, geopolitics, ethnicity, or cultural or socioeconomic status stand little chance of advancing their creative arts (or gaining financially) as long as copyright law remains a bulwark of protection for society’s white and male establishment. A dense text, but an enlightening and groundbreaking treatise. Heavily referenced, no index, modestly illustrated. Highly Recommended. – L. C. Duhon, The University of Toledo

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